Chances are, FA’s not showing this at full size, so probably choose the Download Option to appreciate it at full value.

Time spent on this piece:

Sketch: 39.5 Hours (Over a period of 24 Days)
Inks: 52.66 Hours (Over a period of 19 Days)
Colors: 72.5 Hours (Over a period of 16 Days)

Several months after I had cut my teeth on my first drawing tablet, a friend of mine (the same one who urged me to buy said tablet in the first place) urged me to draw one of my cityscapes, now that I had, for the first time, access to a full range of color and effects.

He wanted to go all out, in an effort to really wow people (and potentially customers) and show them what I could do. He wanted me to be completely original. I asked him if he was sure about this, knowing what a huge undertaking this was going to be. He said yes.

So, I did exactly what he asked me to do: I went all out.

This was back in March last year. He also asked me to write a summary of my efforts once I posted this:

It goes without saying that such an ambitious project was no walk in the park. It was made all the harder by the fact that at the same time, I was reaching my third year of looking for a full-time job, finally finding one (albeit 3rd shift), going through the application and interview process, and then having to deal with finding affordable health insurance after finding out I couldn’t afford the job’s plan. Add to that the fact that it seems like society as we know it is crumbling all around us, and well……..depression and procrastination haunted me constantly.

For every hour I’ve logged above, I probably had two and a half hours when I was constantly making thumbnail sketches planning this out, sketching and re-sketching the basic layout of the scene, the buildings, etc. The hardest part was waiting until now to show the finished product to all but a select few people, not knowing whether what I was cranking out wasn’t just some over-detailed mess. There were countless times during the penciling where I just wanted to crumple up the page and give up, thinking I had failed.

And yet, I kept on going. I guess it’s true what people say, that some artists just don’t feel like life is worth living unless they’re creating something….anything.

As for the cityscape itself. It’s basically a setting for my story that I’m always perpetually writing, but honestly it could work for the fandom as a whole. My idea was to make a city that seemed like a forest, with tree-shaped buildings, and solar panels for leaves. Perfect for walking and talking animals.

Many of the billboards are referenced from actual ads that are shown all the time on FA. It’s easy to see the Bad Dragon and Secondlife ones, but I also put in several smaller ones in the background, including:
Fur After Dark
Lord Stevie’s Hell Creek Logo
An ad for one of SammFeatBlueHeart’s Llevado cars
IMCU VIP
Awoo Comic
E621’s logo
The FA Logo
Firefox
Google
PixPet.Net
A Refegi Ad
Sang The Desert Blade
A Petsuit Ad
Uberquest
That scourge of civilization known as Twitter
Minecraft
Contact Soap and Scent Company
A few T-Shirt and Vax Mask ads
Among others…….

As I mentioned before, my friend intended this to be a signal to my intention to step into the artist market so to speak, be option for commissions and whatnot. I suppose it is, though I’m going to need to drum up a price sheet first. Also, this piece is basically an all out demonstration of what I can do. This was an involved piece to say the least, and I’m going to need some down time before I even think of going all out like this again.

Hell, as I’m typing this, I’m ready to clonk off bed after an 8 hour session finishing this all up.

Still, I think I can confidently say that if I ever do offer to do a pick this…detailed again, we’re going to be looking MilesDF prices (and don’t even think about coming at me with that NFT crap).

Anyways, apart from the billboards, drawing Copyright Alex_kl5